Cereal
by Rhiannon A. Christy
Summary: All Darcy wanted was to choose the right cereal to start her day... this was not what she had planned.


Darcy leaned her hip against the kitchen counter, arms crossed over her chest as she examined her cereal choices. It was a serious decision in her opinion, and one that could wreck her whole day if she got it wrong. She knew that Jane thought she was insane for it, but she figured a woman that barely even realized that food existed had no room to talk. Even so, Jane wasn't even there…

A sigh escaped before she pressed her lips into a thin line. Her and the scientist had parted ways almost two years ago now. Not that it had been either of their decision to do so. No, that had been made by a certain super soldier that had made a promise to a certain thunder god. So, Darcy understood why it had to be done, but she didn't have to like it.

Close to two years ago Jane and Darcy had been having the time of their lives. Jane had been the science community's chosen brand of crack. They couldn't get enough of her. She was invited to speak at every conference, attend every fundraiser, and rub elbows with some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. And of course Darcy had been at her side. She had danced with princes that were looking to snatch up her scientist for his own… she had maybe even slept with one or two of them. Not that anyone would blame her. Of course Darcy had never any delusions of a Disney ending. Even if she had she would've been sorely disappointed.

They had been back in England when news of the Accords reached them. Jane had blinked at the tv screen, all the while Darcy just shook her head. It hadn't been that she expected them, but it didn't take a genius to where everything had been headed. What had been a surprise though was when their flat had been raided by thugs in black gear. Even more surprising was when they gathered her and Darcy up and proceeded to imprison them.

The charges had been trumped up, some crap about vigilantism and helping known enemies of State. What it really boiled down to was control. Control over Jane's work, control over Jane, and ultimately control over Thor. Darcy just seemed to have been caught in the crossfire, something that had happened a lot since she joined Jane. It was the good Captain…. Or well Steve… that had enlightened her otherwise. Turns out she had called a good deal of attention to herself, making her a desirable asset in her own right.

They had been held captive for just over a week, the two women kept separate in hopes that they might break and reveal important information. It had been the middle of the night when Darcy had heard the lock to her cell break and fall to the floor. She hadn't known what to expect when she looked up, but Steve Rogers in all his super glory had not been it. She would admit she had been impressed, she would also admit that maybe she had whimpered at the sight of him.

After the daring rescue Steve… as he insisted he no longer held the title of Captain America… had taken them to a small cabin in Wales. A stopping point, as only a day later the two women had been shipped off separately. Jane to who knew where with Hawkeye, and Darcy… well Darcy ended up hitching a ride with Steve and found herself in a cute little cottage in the bloody fucking middle of nowhere.

The bloody fucking middle of nowhere was where she currently was, trying to figure out if it was a fruity pebble kind of day or more of a coco puffs day. It was also where she roomed with several of the worlds sexiest most wanted list.

"Better make up your mind, Doll, or it will be lunch before you decide."

Darcy jolted and slipped as the voice filled the room. Thankfully the owner of the voice was quick and caught her before she could crack her head open on the counter.

"It's still only nine in the morning, I think I've got time." Good fucking Lord, not since she had been in college had Darcy thought nine a.m. would be a time she would be awake. If she had her say it wouldn't be now, but Steve and the man in front of her were adamant that she be always ready to move at a moment's notice. And that meant early morning apparently.

Speaking of the man in front of her, Darcy pulled herself from his arms and straightened her shirt. Bucky gave her a smile and stepped away from her to grab the box of fruit loops from the shelf for what was surely his fifth breakfast. Keeping super soldiers was costly business.

James "Bucky" Barnes hadn't been living with them for very long, having spent a good deal of the past two years on ice. Around seven months ago he had just appeared, sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of fruity pebbles. The dude had a serious sweet-tooth. Darcy had kept her mouth shut for close to a day before she was bursting at the seams. Steve had just laughed and explained the other man's recovery and the political reasons he had needed to leave Wakanda. Allies of the ex-Avengers they might have been, but with the Accords and various new threats it was too precarious for Bucky to remain under their protection. Darcy was pretty sure there had been whispers of a third world war.

Like all the others she shared the cabin with, Bucky came and went according to missions. For the past month he had been away with Steve, working behind the scenes to protect the world. From the look of him, Darcy figured it must have been one hell of a mission.

"When did you get in? I thought you guys were supposed to be gone for another month." Darcy pulled down the cinnamon toast crunch, ignoring her pervious choices.

"Cleared things up early. We just got in last night. Haven't even been to bed yet." Bucky shoveled a large spoonful of cereal into his mouth, his eyes on the curvy brunette at the counter. Even though he had been away from Hydra control for several years now, he knew it would take some time before he was fully him again… if he ever was. But Darcy, well when he was around her he felt more like his old self than he had in a long time.

"I don't understand any of you. If I had been in your place I probably would have passed out on the plane." Darcy shook her head as she poured her cereal, adding a generous amount of sugar. This was another thing that Jane thought she was insane for, but with the type of people she hung around with Darcy knew she needed a great amount of energy.

"Well, Doll, I was a bit distracted." Bucky polished off his cereal, pushing the bowl to the middle of the table before leaning back in his chair. A smile played at the corner of his mouth, but he held it in check.

"Oh God! Which one of you? Do I need to get out the med-kit?" Darcy dropped her bowl onto the table with a harsh thud. She was really getting tired of her people returning to her less than whole.

"Nah, no one got shot… or maimed in any way." Bucky felt a bloom of heat rush through his chest at the concern on her face, he wasn't sure when the last time someone cared for him beyond Steve.

"Alright, I'll bite then, what distracted you?" Allowing her heart to settle, Darcy sat down to eat her breakfast.

"You ever heard of Prince Ivarr?" Leaning his chair back on two legs, Bucky was delighted at the shock apparent on the woman's face.

"Um, y-yeah I've heard of him. He's the heir to the throne of a minor country, no real power, but likes to act like he does. Why?" Darcy cringed at the way her voice cracked. The thing was that she damn well knew who the man was, having spent four blissful months camped out in his bed.

It had been before everything went down with the Accords, even before Thor returned to Asgard. Things between her two friends had been tense, something that hadn't been helped by her constant presence. So, after she met Ivarr she was only too happy to give her friends time alone and accept his offer. The… well she guessed affair was the correct word… had been a whirlwind of fantastic sex, champagne, parties, and lazy mornings. At the end of it all the two of them bid goodbye as friends. She hadn't seen or heard from him since.

"A little birdie sent us a tip that he might be Hydra, or at least funding them." Bucky registered the shock on her face and realized that maybe he should've been a bit more delicate with the reveal.

"That's not… He…" Realizing what she was going to say, she clamped her mouth shut. She wanted to tell Bucky that there was no way that Ivarr could be Hydra. She had spent months with him, allowed him to… well she had spent a lot of time in his company. Still, that was what Hydra was good at, wasn't it? Blending perfectly in?

"It took a bit of time and digging, but we eventually found our proof. He's been funding Hydra research for years." Bucky set his chair back down on all four legs, and pulled a crumpled photo from his shirt pocket. "In our digging we also uncovered something else."

Darcy's throat closed as she looked down at the photo Bucky had just set on the table. She could feel her entire face and neck heat up, and suddenly she knew just what it was that had distracted him. For there in full color was a photograph of her dressed up like a 1940's pinup… and not the dressed kind.

"Has Steve seen these?" It was bad enough that Bucky had seen them, but the idea that Steve… Steve who had quickly become like a brother to her… had seen them. It was like walking into your room and finding out your father had found your vibrator… awkward, and wishing for death.

"Nah, thought I'd spare his sensibilities, he seems to think you are as pure as snow." Bucky wasn't even kidding. Steve had gotten it into his head that Darcy was this innocent little girl who could do no wrong. It always amused him.

"I don't even know what gave him that idea!" It was the strangest thing, cause she remembered hitting rather blatantly on Steve when she first met him. She had been anything but subtle… she might have had a problem with jumping her rescuers at one time.

"Sometimes Steve only sees what he wants to see." Bucky pulled out another photo from his pocket, this one even more revealing than the last. "Nice concept, by the way, but there are a few historical inaccuracies."

"We weren't exactly going for accurate… as far as I can remember. I wasn't fully sober when those were shot." In fact she was pretty sure she had been completely three sheets to the wind that night… so much so that she completely forgot about those photos until that moment.

"What I want to know, is why there were boudoir pictures of you in the bedroom of a known Hydra supporter?" When Bucky had found the pictures he had at first thought the woman in them had to just be a lookalike. That thought hadn't lasted long, as he noticed a small heart shaped birthmark resting on the upper inner thigh of the model. He had seen that same birthmark on Darcy every time she walked around the cottage in nothing but panties and a tank top. That birthmark was burned into his brain.

"I'm not Hydra if that is what you are thinking." Resisting the urge to pinch her nose, Darcy realized that her mother had been right. One day Darcy's thoughtless actions would come back to bite her in the ass. Only she knew this is probably not what her mom had expected.

"I'm not sure what I'm thinking, Doll." Bucky doubted that Darcy was Hydra, or evil for that matter, but he did want to know what the hell those pictures were doing there.

"Look, it happened awhile ago, alright. Jane and Thor needed some time alone, and I had met Ivarr at this charity thing in Sweden. He invited me back to his country for holiday, and what is a girl to do when a honest to God prince wants to whisk you away? We had a thing for like four months, we said goodbye and that was it." She pushed her bowl of now mushy cereal away from her and ran her fingers through her hair. "I can't believe he actually kept those pictures."

"I do." Bucky allowed the smile he had been fighting to spread across his face when Darcy's head shot up. "If you had taken those for me I would've been carrying them around with me. Hell, I would've had one painted on the nose of my plane."

"You weren't in the Airforce, Bucky." Darcy shook her head when he just winked at her. She went to grab the pictures off the table, only to have them snatched up by the man in front of her.

"You know what, I think I might hang on to these anyway." Bucky slipped the photos back into his pocket and stood up.

"I didn't take those for you." Darcy felt her heart beat faster as Bucky rounded the table and looked down at her.

"Maybe we need to rectify that." His smile turning into a smirk, Bucky lifted his metal arm. "And I might not have a plane, but I'm sure a picture of you would look nice painted on this."

Darcy held her breath as the man walked out of the kitchen. She had wanted to say something smart, something sassy, but he had left her completely speechless. When she had gotten up that morning this was not where she thought it would be going.

Picking up her bowl, she placed it in the sink. She would have to make something else, she was beginning to think that there was no cereal on the planet that could match the kind of day she was having.

* * *

Author's Note: Right, so I have no idea where I was really going with this, beyond Bucky finding some pinup pics of Darcy. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media

franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.


End file.
